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Leadership is a key commodity in twenty‐first century organizations. This is especially true for school organizations. This paper aims to respond to six questions about head teachers and leadership of basic schools.

Head teachers responded to survey items about proficiencies required for effective leadership and those demonstrated in practice. The Greater Accra region of Ghana was the setting and head teachers constituted the sample. A survey with a unique identifier was distributed to head teachers at their schools. Analysis was conducted using SPSS and output was translated into frequencies and percentages.

A premise of the research was that heads of basic schools lacked leadership proficiencies because of the absence of school leadership preparation programs. Heads of basic schools lack professional preparation in leadership, and practice management and administrative behaviors rather than leadership.

Ghana has implemented several reforms with the intent of developing a quality education system; however, there has not been a focus on leadership. The literature is clear about the vital role head teachers have in effective schools and student achievement. This research calls attention to the leadership needs of head teachers in the Ghana education system.

This research reveals that Ghana faces a leadership challenge related to head teachers' professional development. The results are an alert to policy makers to institute educational reform that addresses head teachers' leadership in basic schools.

This chapter proposes semiparametric estimation of the relationship between growth rate of GDP per capita, growth rates of physical and human capital, labor as well as other covariates and common trends for a panel of 23 OECD countries observed over the period 1971–2015. The observed differentiated behaviors by country reveal strong heterogeneity. This is the motivation behind using a mixed fixed- and random coefficients model to estimate this relationship. In particular, this chapter uses a semiparametric specification with random intercepts and slopes coefficients. Motivated by Lee and Wand (2016), the authors estimate a mean field variational Bayes semiparametric model with random coefficients for this panel of countries. Results reveal nonparametric specifications for the common trends. The use of this flexible methodology may enrich the empirical growth literature underlining a large diversity of responses across variables and countries.

This chapter focuses upon high school preparation and transition planning activities as they apply to students with disabilities. The reader will find a review of needs for reform of high school standards-based curricula, the development of inclusive general education curriculum content, and strategies for integrating functional and daily living skill training and meaningful transition planning activities, which include collaboration with adult agencies. The authors further present a number of evidence-based practices to address these needs and make recommendations for moving forward in ways to improve post-school outcomes for youth with disabilities.

Leaders are seen as representatives of their organisations; as such, their actions and behaviours towards their subordinates reflect on the organisations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of some dimensions under transformational and transactional leadership styles on perceived organisational support (POS) in Ghana.

Data were collected from 264 engineers and technicians from the country’s power transmission subsector through a survey. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was used in analysing the data with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences and AMOS.

The analysis indicated surprisingly that idealised influence predicted POS negatively while intellectual stimulation had no significant influence on employees’ POS. However, inspirational motivation, individualised consideration and contingent rewards predicted employees’ POS positively with contingent reward having the highest influence on POS.

The study’s findings indicate the importance that engineers and technicians in Ghana attach to support from their leaders, specifically inspiration and motivation, consideration for their needs and interests and rewards for their performance; thus, the study recommended that organisations must entreat their leaders to show such supportive behaviours towards their subordinates.

The study findings present fresh knowledge from a developing country perspective with regard to the importance that employees attach to these leadership dimensions.

Like many industrial nations over the last four decades, the Japanese economy has undergone a number of regime shifts, making parameter estimations difficult. One of the most significant shifts occurred in inflation in the mid 1970s as OPEC suddenly raised oil prices. This abrupt change likely caused consumers' expectations of future inflation to deviate significantly from realized (ex‐post) inflation. Using a Markov chain model, inflation forecasts that take into consideration changing regimes are employed to derive a unique set of real stationary variables that are likely to better represent consumers' expectations and are an alternative to the standard approach of adjusting nominal variables with ex‐post inflation. We employ these real variables in the consumption‐based capital asset pricing model (CCAPM). Estimates of the representative investor's coefficient of relative risk aversion (CRRA) are derived within the framework typically used to examine the equity premium puzzle. Our tests confirm that the equity premium puzzle, if it exists in Japan, is not as significant as previously thought.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of numerous writings addressing quality performance-geared contracting (PC) and self-stated performance.

The study systematically reviewed 134 refereed papers across various fields published between from 2000 to 2018. A categorization framework of PC is suggested addressing fundamental dimensions of its plan and management.

The relative analysis of pertinent articles advancing interdisciplinary perspective encourages learning and provides knowledge about quality management in organizations especially at individual and organizational levels.

The outcomes indicate that much of the present-day wide-ranging performance contracting studies do not have robust theoretical grounds. Studies are also inclined to certain theories for instance agency theory and play down other theories with the likelihood of contributing to quality management.

Performance contracting between citizens and public entities is important in that the written contract limits what the public entities, for instance, the government can and cannot do and informs on the rights and privileges of citizens, thus contracts to form the core of a free society.

This review demonstrates that performance contracting is useful in performance improvement if proper job design and contract management exist.

The natural resources curse theory argues the higher dependency on natural resources leads to many socio-economic problems. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between corruption and banking soundness and also to compare the extent of this effect between the two groups of rich and poor in natural resources countries.

To this aim, the authors apply a panel data set comprised of 98 countries from 2012 to 2015.

The results show that nations with a higher level of corruption have poorer banking soundness. The authors also find that by considering the resource curse theory and the effect of natural resource rents in the model, the adverse impact of corruption on banking soundness is more substantial in countries with a higher natural dependency level (rich in natural resources).

Though studies have been conducted on corruption and banking soundness, this paper, by using resources curse theory, articulates that corruption is one of the most critical factors affecting banking soundness and has a destructive effect on the health of the banking system and the economy of almost all countries, especially in natural resource-based economies. This study will appeal to banks authorities, governments, policymakers, oversight financial institutions and those who have a vested interest in regulating financial crimes globally. They can prevent financial and banking crises by cooperating in the fight against corruption worldwide.

This chapter asserts the theoretical importance of a relational approach for examining the historical development of civil rights for people with intellectual disabilities. A relational approach examines contestations over rights as embedded within and across various groups, settings, and times. Through this approach, we see, first, that struggles over rights are primarily struggles over “relational visions,” or the desired relational structure across groups. Second, rights for people with disabilities intersect with rights for other minority groups, and therefore, we must examine the broader stratification and relational structure. Third, rights developed differently depending on relational setting. Finally, rights have been used as “technologies of power,” requiring “normative” behavior for inclusion. Overall, a relational approach provides a set of concepts and a theoretical framework that furthers our understanding of citizenship for people with intellectual disabilities as it transformed through time and as it developed alongside citizenship for other populations.

This study aims to address the critical need for innovation in the power grid sector, driven by global carbon reduction commitments. It highlights the pivotal role of critical success factors (CSFs) in enhancing system adaptability and environmental mitigation within India’s power industry.

This research is grounded on transition management theory to identify and validate the CSFs necessary to integrate energy storage systems (ESS). Here, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) are integrated to evaluate the model’s effectiveness in reducing CO₂ emissions while ensuring grid stability and flexibility.

The research develops a seven-level hierarchical model illustrating the interaction of ESS components for a stable power grid, clean energy and a profitable electric industry. It emphasizes the strategic significance of managing key factors to reduce CO₂ emissions and ensure grid stability. The study recommends continuous monitoring at tactical and operational levels to enhance overall performance.

The study provides policymakers with strategic insights for the successful implementation of smart grid initiatives, facilitating effective decarbonization of the electricity industry. Additionally, it offers a comprehensive framework for minimizing the environmental impact associated with electricity generation, thereby enhancing overall operational sustainability and efficiency.

The originality of this study lies in its integration of EFA and TISM for robust model assessment and the application of transition management theory to identify and validate CSFs in the integration of ESS. This approach offers a novel perspective on enhancing the sustainability and efficiency of power grids.